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Capital

Built for electrical and wire harness design

Capital: A Platform-level Electrical Environment

Capital is an advanced software suite for the electrical system and wire harness domain. Used by leading automotive, aerospace and harness makers, Capital is built to support the complex demands of integrated processes from initial vehicle definition through design, manufacture and service.

Capital: A Platform-level Electrical Environment

Developed for transportation platforms such as aircraft, automobiles and off-road vehicles, Capital is scalable from small, localized projects through to complete enterprise wide deployments. The suite spans an extended flow from vehicle concept and electrical architecture definition to wire harness manufacture and vehicle maintenance. The core Capital tools can be implemented individually or deployed together in a unified flow that seamlessly matures data within a consistent environment. Robust integration with adjacent domains (such as MCAD and PLM) is fully supported, as is cross-organizational collaboration.

Capital In-Depth

Wiring Design–A Choice of Two Processes

Capital provides a choice of two different wiring design processes – the interactive design flow process or the generative design flow process.

Interactive Wiring Design Process

The interactive wiring design process is based on the Capital Logic and Capital HarnessXC applications, providing a full electrical design capability from logical schematics through to fully detailed and costed harness drawings.

With the interactive flow, electrical engineers define the logical and wiring schematic connectivity interactively. Physical topology layouts can be defined and linked to the wiring designs using rule-driven elements to validate the physical and wiring design. Automated facilities include logical-to-wiring conversion, a variety of design comparison facilities and extensive revisioning, effectivity, and auditing facilities.

Generative Design Process

The generative design process is based on the Capital Logic, Capital Integrator and Capital HarnessXC applications to provide a full electrical design capability from logical schematics through physical/topological wiring generation, and onto fully detailed and costed harness drawings.

With the generative flow, electrical engineers define the logical schematic connectivity, the physical/topological layout of the car or aircraft, customer option requirements, and design rules for auto-placement and routing. Capital Integrator then integrates the logical and physical information to automatically generate the wiring definition, including auto-generated wiring diagrams, allowing the same logical designs to be reused in a succession of different physical designs.

Data-centric Backbone

Fundamental to the philosophy of Capital is the belief that design data management is central to solving the problem of electrical design complexity. So, in addition to providing the drawing and design definition functionality required for each phase of the design process, Capital goes one step further – by providing a data-centric backbone that integrates each and every part of the design process.

Data-centricity is the key feature that differentiates Capital from other design tools, providing a step change in design speed and quality by automating many steps in the design process, streamlining the flow of information as the design matures, and eliminating many of the time-consuming and error-prone data-entry tasks required with traditional design tools.

For many organizations, significant inefficiencies exist in their electrical design process, particularly regarding exchange of data from one step in the process to the next, and in the implementation of design changes. These inefficiencies affect quality and impact the overall design cycle time and the manpower required to complete each design. The use of Capital’s streamlined electrical design processes can provide major improvements to quality, cost and design cycle time, allowing companies to confidently meet the challenges of global competition.

Project and process management

Project norms such as naming conventions, design rule check patterns and diagram style-templates can be defined and automatically applied. Process constraints such as release management sequence, component usage and analysis scripts can be mandated. Integration with workflow tools is also available.

Design change management

The data-centric architecture of Capital is designed to facilitate change processes. Multiple change management capabilities are provided such as tabular & graphical difference reports; version management; compatibility control (“build lists”); and aerospace-effectivity tracking.

Intuitive electrical simulation and analysis

Multiple capabilities are available ranging from simple subsystem behavior simulation, through DC and transient simulation, to whole vehicle validation and failure analysis. Fully integrated with the design environment, these tools have been developed for use by all design engineers, not just analysis specialists.

Deep integration with MCAD platforms

Such as Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA V5 and Siemens NX. Data can be shared either offline or in a live “connected” mode, which aids visualization. Design changes can be trapped and reconciled. PDM integration is also available, for example to slave component library data or to vault released designs.

Cross-organization communication

Capital supports cross-organization data communication at several points in the design flow. Multiple data formats are supported, and specialized functionality such as part number translation is provided.

Harness engineering

Capital provides powerful automatic harness engineering and validation functionality, for example by automatically selecting library components or validating splice balancing rules. Modern construction methods such as modular (subassembly) build are fully supported. Very detailed harness costing is available from a model containing over 300 design and process parameters.

Configuration capture and composite (superset) data management

Configuration logic can be authored or imported. All design, simulation and reporting activities are undertaken within this composite environment, whether at the full vehicle or individual harness level. This critical capability further supports easy and robust change management.

Diagram synthesis

Capital can automatically generate diagrams from data, so freeing engineers to work on creative design tasks. Style templates can be applied, and drawing contents are laid out for maximum readability.

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Not sure which product is best for you? Use this simple matrix to help find the right product. VeSys designs and data are fully compatible with Capital, so if you’re still in doubt you can start with VeSys and upgrade to Capital later. More